For What It's Worth
by chansoncoeur
Summary: Danae Lively is haunted by the horrors of her past, but this year she's going to have to figure out how to live her life for what it's worth.
1. Swimming With Sharks

**Chapter 1: Swimming With Sharks**

I fidgeted silently in my bed as the horrors of that night floated around in my mind. Those memories were like sharks, and they were circling around me, taunting me, before finally going in for the kill. I'd promised myself not to let these thoughts engulf me like they were doing now, but those particular memories, like sharks, were dominant over all the others. They reigned victorious over my mind, and sickened every fiber of my being. All I wanted was a way to escape them. All I wanted was to forget the terror that I had felt. All I wanted to was to finally fall into a dreamless sleep, and never, ever wake up.

But it wasn't that simple. It's never that simple. Because just as I was about to slip into the subconscious world, Summer silently opened my door and slipped into bed beside me. As she did so, she pressed a finger to her lips, signaling for me not to scream. I obeyed her silent demand, and scooted over to make room for her.

"You remembered it again, didn't you? I heard you screaming," Summer whispered as she she rolled her petite body over in the bed to face me. I looked at my older sister, my protector, and slowly nodded. I didn't recall screaming, but then again, I didn't recall a lot of things lately.

"I try," I said as I sat up, pulling my knees to my chest, and resting my chin on them. "I try to forget, but I can't. All I can think about is coming home and seeing all those healers running into the house..."

An unreadable expression crossed my sister's face, and she violently flipped her soft, brunette curls over her shoulder and bit at one of her chipped nails. This had become one of her tendencies in the past month, and it amused me that my sister had become what my friend Rose Weasley liked to call a "hair-flipper". The nail-biting, however was fine, boring even, because she'd been doing that for as long as I could remember.

"Stop it Danae, it's over. It's in the past, okay?" she demanded. I sighed, but nodded in spite of myself. Summer hated when I brought up the accident. "Besides, we're going back to Hogwarts tomorrow, so you'll be able to get back to normal. And we can forget about this whole thing. It'll be like none of it ever happened."

Maybe for Summer it would be like that, but for me it would be different. The two of us are as different as sisters can be. And her way of grieving and dealing with things is by forgetting about them, pushing them further and further away until they finally vanish. But I obsess over what puts me in pain. It infiltrates my mind, and leaves me permanently scarred. I couldn't just forget about the fact that Mom had died. I couldn't forget the fact that she would never hug me, or make me her famous Cinnamon Cauldrons, or give me that knowing smirk when I blushed about a boy ever again. But Summer could. Summer wanted to pretend that nothing had happened. She wanted to go back to Hogwarts and pretend that Mom was still alive. And even though I knew that she had loved Mom so much (despite all her teenage angst and screaming sessions with Mom), I couldn't help but feel like she was going to forget about Mom completely.

* * *

"Hurry up, Dan!" Summer yelled as I slammed through the barrier to Platform 9 and 3/4 after her. Upon reaching the Platform, I had to take a minute to run my pale fingers through my unruly caramel colored hair, and tug on the zipper of my faded blue sweatshirt. I was well aware that I looked like a complete mess (Summer had kindly informed me of that before we even left the house), but today I didn't really care. I felt terrible today, and I hated myself for having to leave Dad behind. Without Mom, he was like a puppet without strings. And now he would be all alone in that giant house, with no one but the old Persian cat for company. And seeing how the cat had taken to taking six hour naps each day, she wouldn't really be that great of a companion.

I'd asked him to come to the station with us a few nights ago at dinner, but he'd replied that it would be too hard for him. It had been somewhat of a tradition for him and Mom to take us together, so I couldn't really blame him when he declined my invitation as politely as possible and excused himself from the table.

"I'm off to find Dominique," Summer stated, waking me from my reverie. "… unless you want me to sit with you. I could, you know. It wouldn't be a problem at all. Do you want me to? You know what? I will because-"

"Sum," I laughed, interrupting her pointless rambling, "It's fine. I was going to look for Rose, Al, and Scorp anyway. Go have fun, Sum." I smirked at my rhyme and glanced around as students said their goodbyes to their families. I tried not to dwell upon the fact that the only family I had here right now was Summer, and she didn't even count because she'd be going into her seventh year at Hogwarts, and so saying goodbye to her would be absolutely and utterly pointless.

She sighed dramatically and raised her perfectly tweezed eyebrows at me.

"Al?" she said with a little smirk that revealed her stunningly white teeth. "As in, Albus… Potter, maybe?"

I blushed to my roots and gave her a firm look. It wasn't exactly a secret that I was in love with the youngest Potter boy, and I'd spent the better part of fifth year blabbing to Sum about how gorgeous his deep, emerald eyes were. I didn't see why she was so smug. She'd snogged up James Potter on more than one occasion last year, so she's one to talk.

"Yes," I stated calmly. "Albus Potter. As in, brother of your tonsil-hockey buddy, James Potter."

Sum grinned mischievously at me as she started walking away. Right when I was about to run off to find my friends, she turned to look at me over he shoulder, winked, and shouted, "Remember to invite me to the wedding, alright? Maybe I can bring my 'buddy' Jamesy!" and the pranced off to find her best friend, Dominique Weasley.

"Sure, sure," I mumbled to myself as I fumed off to find a compartment on the already crowded train. The corridors of the Hogwarts Express were packed with people, and I wouldn't be surprised if some unfortunate soul go squeezed to death in the mob of magical teenagers. Despite my cynical outlook on the youth that were crowding the corridors, I realized with a sudden wave of emotion just how much I'd missed all of this. This was going to be my sixth year at Hogwarts, and it pained me to think that I only had two more years to go. I better try to make the most of it. That's what Mom would have wanted.

"Danae! DANAE KARMINE LIVELY!" a musical voice shouted from somewhere inside the mob. My eyes scanned the slowly retreating crowd and fell upon a wave of wild, red hair.

"Rose!" I exclaimed happily as I ran over to hug my best friend. "Oh, Rose, how are you?!"

She gave me a toothy grin and dramatically fluttered her eyelashes at me. "I'm great, actually. Guess what? You'll never believe it!"

"Scorpius finally asked you out?" I guessed with a content smirk. Her face fell into a mask of anger and disappointment.

"Well that ruins the surprise then," she grumbled. "How'd you know?"

"He sent me a letter over the summer telling me. He told me about how some strange girl had agreed to go out with him…" I teased as I suddenly received one of her famous Rose Weasley death glares. We teased each other on a regular basis, but we both knew that it was just playful bickering, so the glare didn't faze me at all. I reckon I could have let her tell me about it herself, but what fun would that be? And I definitely needed a little fun in my life.

"Ha. Ha," she said dryly, sarcasm dripping out of her every word. "_Anyway_, we need to fix you up with Al soon. And then we could double!"

"Rose, I highly doubt that Albus Potter would ever want to date _me_. He only thinks of us as friends, and even if he did like me I wouldn't want to compromise our friendship. Besides, I should concentrate on other stuff… like Quidditch… and, um, school."

"School?"

"Yeah, that's what I said. School. As in that lovely place we go to every year to learn magic. You know, that place? I believe it's called Hogwarts," I replied humorlessly.

"I hear what you said Lively, and I must say, I do resent your sarcasm. Since when do you care about_ academics_?" Rose quipped as we finally found our way into an empty compartment.

After we both took a seat I looked up at her, and all traces of sarcasm left my voice as I replied seriously, "Since Mom died."

Rose looked extremely uncomfortable, and I hadn't meant to put her in that situation. But as she gazed out the window, staring at the passing fields and remarkably blue sky, thinking of something to say, I found myself drowning in those shark infested waters once more. And all the memories that I'd successfully pushed out of my mind since last night came back to me.

"Danae, I'm so sorry," Rose finally whispered. "And I didn't know if you wanted to talk about it or not, so I left it out of my letters, but you know I'm here if you ever want to talk, right?" I nodded at her, but even the sound of her soothing, melodic voice couldn't save me from those memories. Even she, my best friend in the entire world, couldn't save me from getting eaten alive by the sharks.

Just as Rose was about to open her mouth and start speaking again the compartment door slid open with a squeak, and Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy strolled in. They entered with a flourish, like always, and sent mini fireworks out of the tips of their wands. Rose gave me an encouraging smile that said, "_See, they'll cheer you up_", and even though the sight of Albus made me feel a little bit better, a dark gray raincloud still hovered over my heart, bearing the constant threat of a thunderstorm.

"Why hello ladies, how are you on this fine September day?" Scorpius asked as he waltzed over to sit down beside Rose, making his sandy colored hair shake with every step. Albus rolled his brilliant green eyes and ran a hand through his untidy hair. In all honestly, he'd never looked sexier. He seemed to have filled out a bit over the summer, and he definitely looked a bit tan. I made a mental note to ask him if he'd gone on any vacations over the summer.

"Now, now, Scorpius, calm yourself down and eat some fruit or something. No need to be so facetious so early in the year. I say we save our high-jinks for a later date," Albus said as he grinned that lopsided grin that I knew and loved. Merlin, he was beautiful.

"So in other words, Potter, you mean tomorrow?" Scorpius inquired as he casually placed his arm around Rose's shoulders. She bit her lip and blushed right to her already red roots, but I could tell that she loved it. And I truly was happy for her, because I knew that she was happy. That's why our friendship worked. We both genuinely felt the other's emotions so strongly, almost as if they were our own. Many people had taken to calling us soul sisters, and and marveling about how much we had in common. And we were guilty as charged, because we were just two girls who were high on life and didn't see the point of fretting over all the pointless stuff. We could stay up without getting bored until the ungodly hour of six in the morning just talking, and we had on various occasions.

Albus grinned as gave Scorpius a high five before sitting down beside me. My heart melted a bit when he gave me the grin I loved, and I moved the cage that held my snowy white owl, Kismet, off the seat to make room for him. When I did this she hooted in protest. I hadn't really been paying much attention to her lately, because she was a birthday gift from Mom, and just looking at her made me miss Mom even more. I would have left her home with Dad if I didn't need her to send letters so badly. I suppose I could use the school owls, but there was no guarantee that they would successfully deliver the letters, and Kismet was top-notch.

"Oh, hush," I growled at her as she hooted irritably in her cage. Albus gave me an analytical look, and suddenly his expression turned solemn. I could tell that he was about to say something, and it wouldn't be about my annoyance at the owl.

"How are you, Dan? Don't feel like you need to say anything now if you don't want to. We have all the time in the world," he whispered so only I could hear. I knew he was referring to Mom, and I just whispered a barely audible "okay" at him. He grabbed my hand and gave it a small squeeze.

"I'm here," he promised me. I smiled at him, because even though there were four people in this compartment, this moment that I was sharing with Albus seemed surprisingly intimate. And even though I liked it, even though I loved the feeling of his strong hand around mine, I wasn't quite ready to open up to him just yet.

* * *

**Author's Note: This was just an idea for a story I had, so I thought I'd try it out. It's obviously next generation, and the main character, Danae Lively, is an 'OC' (original character, for those who don't know). Please let me know what you think! I'll try to have the next chapter up in about a week! Oh and some lady named J. (I know, I've never heard of her either!) owns everything, but the plot and OCs are all mine.**


	2. A Fair Trade

"Miss Lively, it would be wise of you to at least pretend that you're paying attention, rather than making it blatantly obvious that you're falling asleep in my class," Professor Parker said to me as she tapped the chalkboard absent mindedly with her wand. I tried my best to collect myself, as I had indeed been falling asleep. But no amount of lecturing could ever make me interested in the history of transfigured liquids.

"I'm sorry Professor," I apologized. "I just had a hard time sleeping last night and-"

"Never you mind. But please, try to stay awake next time," she sighed, cutting me off. "Anyway, it was three hundred years ago that the mighty wizard, Alfonso the third discovered that liquids could, in fact, be transfigured, if one was not intending to drink them…"

I began falling asleep again when something sharp prodded the back of my head. It hurt, but I somehow held back a yelp. Turning around I saw Albus sitting there, twirling his wand in his hands (the dreadful weapon that he poked me with) and looking much too smug for my liking.

"What is your problem, Potter? Because let it be known that I'm quite efficient with hexes," I hissed at him. I don't care how adorable he is, nobody jabs me with their wand and gets away with it.

"Ah yes, the famous hex threat," he whispered. Bending forward so that only I could hear him, he added, "It's getting a bit old, don't you think? Besides, you can thank me later for saving your arse from getting detention. Falling asleep in class is unadvisable, and if it happens again I'm afraid I just won't be able to respect you anymore, Danae."

Oh great, I was getting lectured by Albus Potter (of all people) about what was and wasn't 'advisable' for class. But I reckon he was right, because I was a bit aloof lately. And to be honest, after Mom died we didn't use any magic at all. My father made sure that all three of us were ostracized from the wizarding world, and he actually didn't want us going back to Hogwarts. But Summer and I both agreed that nothing could stop us from coming back, because Mom wouldn't have wanted it any other way. However, an entire summer without witnessing or using any magic does have its drawbacks, and I was starting to realize that I felt very lost in some of my classes.

I hadn't even completed any of my summer homework, but under the circumstances, the headmaster had agreed that he would let it slide. Still, I felt behind, when usually, I was top of the class. Or, right under Rose, at least, but since she's Hermione Granger's daughter, that shouldn't really count.

"I'm sorry, Al. Thank you," I finally said to him as I turned around and began taking notes.

__________________

That afternoon I decided to go for a walk to clear my head. I'd always loved how the grounds looked in autumn, but then again, I'd always loved how the grounds looked. I'd always loved how Hogwarts looked, standing tall and proud and looking just as magical as magic that was taught there.

**Chapter 2: A Fair Trade**

As my mind began to drift away from the beauty of Hogwarts, I started thinking about my mom again. I missed her so much, and it was so hard to just go on and feign happiness. Lots of people had asked me about her of course, but I had nothing to tell them. I couldn't talk about it just yet, and they should've minded their own business. So soon enough, the questions began to fade away and I was left with my peace. The only thing that troubled me was that I couldn't even tell Rose what had happened. Rose, who was practically my sister, didn't even know how my mother died. All she knew was that it was an accident, and that's all I was keen on telling her.

But she had no idea that Mom had been out night-flying on her broom when she'd hit an invisible barrier. I remember reading about them last year, and they're this really rare form of dark magic. Invisible to the human eye, they can appear anywhere. So someone must've cast one at some point in time, because my mother flew right into one. And what they do is curse the person who makes contact with them, and torture them before the curse finally kills them. And then when it does, they fall from the sky. And I saw her fall, because I was watching her, but I didn't have my wand on me, so there was nothing I could do. I watched and did nothing as my mother was tortured and fell to her death.

But how could I tell anyone this? How could I get my mouth to tell the tragic tale of how my mother had died?

I couldn't. It was too hard. The wound was still to fresh, and I wasn't ready to take the bandage off just yet.

* * *

"What's wrong, Sum?" I asked as I sat down next to her at dinner. She was staring at her roast beef and pushing it around her plate with her fork. Summer usually loved to eat (which wasn't obvious because she was so damn skinny), so it concerned me.

"Nothing," she mumbled, jabbing her fork into an innocent and unsuspecting piece of meat. "Unless you count the fact that Teddy Lupin is dating Victoire Weasley something."

Summer's been in love with Teddy Lupin since the first day she met him. Sure, she's dated plenty of other guys, but she's always said that none of them hold a candle to Teddy. Teddy, of course, doesn't know that Sum is in love with him, but apart from that they're best friends. Whenever Summer has a problem she either goes to me, Dom, or Teddy. And whenever Teddy gets a new girlfriend it's always the same gig with Summer. She doesn't eat, she doesn't sleep, and she doesn't talk to anyone unless directly spoken to for at least three days.

"I'm sorry. But you know that it won't last; Victoire's too artificial for him. He'll see right through her," I said gently. "But you can't stop living your life because of him. So please eat something, for me?"

Finally, Summer agreed and I got her to polish off her dinner. Since she's the older sister I reckon this is a bit of a role reversal, but quite frankly, I'm too exhausted to care. When I got back in from my walk I took a shower, and completely broke down. It took me awhile to realize that I was crying, since water droplets were already cascading down my pale cheeks from the shower, but once I started trembling it made it became pretty obvious.

After dinner Summer and I walked back to the Gryffindor common room together. It was a simple act, but the fact that we did it as sisters who were grieving made the unity between us seem a bit more visible. I think we both found comfort in the fact that no matter how bad life got, we both had each other.

"Sum?" I asked when we had stepped through the portrait hole. She looked over at me, seemingly ready to answer whatever question I was about to throw at her.

"I just want you to know that, if I had to pick anyone in the world to be my sister, we'd still be standing here like this. Together. As sisters," I confessed. It wasn't often that I told her I truly cared about her, but for some reason I had the sudden urge to tell her tonight. She smiled and embraced me in a bear hug.

"Same here, sis," she whispered as we clutched onto each other.

_____________

The next week seemed to fly by, and I was starting to realize that the stress of schoolwork was starting to get to me. I'd told Scorpius about this one afternoon when I ran into him on my way to Charms class.

"And I barely get to see you anymore. Oh why did you have to be in Slytherin, Scorpy? Why?" I asked dramatically. He laughed but brushed off the comment.

"Trust me Danae, I hear you loud and clear. I miss our little group," he agreed, referring to the friendship between me, Rose, Al, and himself.

"Oh and regarding your health, I'm pretty sure Rose is going to kill you if you don't spend some time with her soon," I warned him. It was true, for the past few nights I had to listen to Rose storm around the dorm and complain about how negligent Scorpius was as a boyfriend. But since he was my friend, and I cared about him, I thought it would be alright if I passed along the warning.

"Alright, I reckon I've been a bit negligent, eh?" he chuckled. I laughed; this kid must be a mind reader. "Oh and I haven't seen you Gryffindors much, but I saw Al at Quidditch the other night and he asked about you."

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked irritably.

"You saved my life," he replied with a wink. "You scratch my back, I scratch yours." And with that, he was gone.

_________________

**Author's Note: I hope you guys liked the chapter! I'll admit, it was a bit of a filler, but now you know what happened to Danae and Summer's mom. Originally, I was planning on making it much darker and more dramatic, but I didn't want it to be over the top. If you read this, please take the time to leave a review! I love reading reviews, but if I don't get any I really have no inspiration to continue. So please, if you liked the story or if you hated it, leave a review. If you do I'll love you forever. Thanks, and again, JKR owns all but the plot and my original characters. **


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